BROOKLYN, N.Y., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following two weeks of trial, a federal jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., today returned a verdict convicting Khalid Awan of providing money and financial services to the Khalistan Commando Force (KCF), a terrorist organization responsible for thousands of deaths in India since its founding in 1986. When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Charles P. Sifton on March 7, 2007, Awan faces a maximum sentence of 45 years in prison. The conviction was announced by U.S. Attorney Roslynn R. Mauskopf of the Eastern District of New York and FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Mark J. Mershon of the New York Field Office.
KCF was formed in 1986 and is comprised of Sikh militants who seek to establish a separate Sikh state in the Punjab region of India. The organization has engaged in numerous assassinations of prominent Indian government officials -- including the murder of Chief Minister Beant Singh of Punjab in 1995 -- and hundreds of bombings, acts of sabotage and kidnappings.
| 45 years hard time for the Sikh turbans, obsequieous apologies and loads of baksheesh for Arabian-style turbans. What's wrong with this picture? |